Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

Three trends are currently driving the global electricity sector: decarbonization, decentralization and differentiation. Utilities are making significant contributions to mitigate carbon emissions, while a technology revolution is …

Transport is forecast to be the greatest contributor to increasedgreenhouse gas output in Europe over the next ten to 15 years and theCommission is expecting the aviation sector to play its part in helping theUnion live up to its ambitious targets for cutting emissions.

With airline passenger and cargo traffic predicted to increase by 7% a yearover the next 20 years, the sector will clearly face a tough task in makinga significant contribution to pollution control.

One target for action, and an Achilles heel for airlines, is the currentexemption of aviation fuel from excise taxes. Past Commission moves tobring the sector into line have failed in the face of protests thatairlines cannot switch to another fuel source and warnings that the netresult of any such measure would be to hike up the cost of air travelwithout any environmental benefit.

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) says scrapping the derogationwould add around 13% to operating costs and an average of 13 ecu to aone-way ticket within the Union.

Airlines defend their privilege by arguing that they could save millions ofecu and avoid considerable pollution if Europe’s air traffic problems wereresolved and aircraft did not have to stack up above airports waiting forpermission to land.

Now, however, there is renewed pressure for change, with Internal MarketCommissioner Mario Monti pushing national ministers to accept a broadeningand gradual increase in excise taxes.

The last debate on the airlines’ exemption at a March meeting of transportministers ended somewhat inconclusively, with ministers asking theCommission for more information and details of the internationalimplications if Europe took such a step unilaterally.

With transport ministers expected to take a decision on whether theexemption stays or goes by the end of the year, their environmentcounterparts have left no doubt as to where they stand, declaring thatthere are no grounds for maintaining the privilege.

Pressure to cut air pollution and noise are also pushing the Commission tospeed up moves to outlaw the oldest aircraft still flying in Europe’sskies. When they meet in July as the European Civil Aviation Conference(ECAC), transport ministers are expected to propose tighter restrictions tostop airlines from acquiring any aircraft that do not meet so-called’Chapter III’ noise standards.

This would prevent airlines from attempting to side-step the rules and keepolder aircraft flying by adding new noise dampening equipment, a processtechnically known as ‘hush kitting’.

The Commission has made no secret of the fact that it is seeking to toughenup its noise rules and the AEA claims it will adopt the ECAC initiative andturn it into Union law.

However, a question mark remains over whether the ECAC approach could beused to cover third countries in regions such as the Americas, Africa, andAsia. The ECAC believes its rules could not be imposed on non-Europeans,but reckons it could prevent them from winning new routes unless they usedthe most up-to-date aircraft.

“If European airlines were subject to additional constraints, it would bediscriminatory if others were not as well,” claimed an AEA official.

The whole issue has once again raised the question of how far regionalagreements which set tighter standards than the norm are possible orappropriate in an international industry such as aviation.

US officials recently raised the issue of noise abatement during EU-US’open skies’ discussions, suggesting it made absolutely no sense for theEuropeans to go out on a limb, leaving the rest of the world behind.

Commission officials admit that their desire to act unilaterally is adirect result of the failure of international efforts to negotiate tighternoise limits within the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),partly because of US resistance.

But one American source said: “If they want to do something, they should dosomething about the way the ICAO works, rather than setting tighterstandards unilaterally.”